AfriGeneas Free Persons of Color Forum

Free Black Slavemaster in Louisiana

Hello Everyone,
It has been a while since I've visited the site. Hope all is well,Richard, Mel, Denise and all my other buddies.
I found my Calvin Oliver and that sent me into another whole world with being able to quickly track all his family, etc.
His parents were Mitchell and Mary Hanna Oliver from Carrol County , MS. The 1870 census has several Olivers born in "Michigan" which really should be Mississippi and their wives and older children born in Louisiana. So I searched for an Oliver slave master that had ties with both Ms and La and found Francis and Elizabeth Oliver from Catahoula Parish. Elizabeth is listed as a large slave owner in the 1860 census and Francis (with wife Elizabeth) is listed as one in 1850 Catahoula County. While searching the Olivers that married women from Louisiana, I figured that they were either brought into Louisiana with their owner or hired out. I found that Elizabeth was born in Ms and possibly had her own slaves. Her maiden name was Verdun. I found this out by doing a cross reference for an Oliver in La marrying a spouse from Ms and it popped up. Come to find out Francis Oliver's name was Francois Olivier.
The thing that gets me is most of the information I'm finding on this Elizabeth Verdun (Verdin) is leading me to another slave master in La who also has ties with Ms names Romin Verdun and his brothers. These were Free Black Slavemasters. Has anyone heard of them?